Gratefuleness catch-up

I see that I am behind a few days in letting y'all know what little blessings I've been finding in my life. I discovered a few days late that my first post for some reason didn't get published, and then my week just got crazy . . . but here is the lowdown on what I discovered this week when I decided to be intentionally grateful. 

Tues. 

A random path in the woods that I found on my lunch break. My precious half hour outside each day!

Sometimes you just have to remind yourself . . . 

Pics do no justice . . . I was driving home from Kid's Club and saw this bank of clouds that was being lit up from the inside by lightning. So I raced home and drove out to the field to see if I could grab some pics . . . 

Wednesday . . . 

To be completely honest, Wednesday was a little bit hard to be grateful about. When your car overheats on the way to work and let's you set and you get to work half an hour late it just kinda starts your day on the wrong foot! 

But I did get these! 

My sister stopped by at work with her kids and they gave me this awesome bouquet they had picked for me . . . Made me feel super special & super loved! 

And I got to eat this cream-cheesy chocolately bit of goodness. I was feeling a rather urgent & pressing need for chocolate! 

Thursday

I found this at the bottom of my purse as I was cleaning it out. -one of my kids club girls had given it to me on Tuesday, and it was an awesome little reminder of sweet Lindsay and the amazing amount of potential I see in her

Thursday evening was also pretty amazing as a rather special someone took time out of his crazy busy week to drive me to Baltimore to catch my early morning flight. But rather than just dropping me off and making it back home in time to get a decent amount of sleep himself we drove into the Inner Harbor area of Baltimore and got supper at a really cool restaurant where we could eat on the sidewalk . . . And as usual I got carried away with my company and forgot to take pics, but suffice it to say it was pretty incredible!! 

Friday morning! 

4 o'clock a.m. couldn't even dampen my enthusiasm! 

I was in an airport again!! 8 months since I've been on a plane . . . Way to long by anybody's standards ! And no, I technically didn't need my passport since it was a domestic flight but I just had to make it feel 'official'! 

It was an awesome trip and what made it even cooler was the awesome ladies waiting on the other end. 

I flew out to MT to visit my cousin who got married and was dragged halfway across the states by her man. Also visiting her was a friend from Liberia, who was home on furlough. Let's just say the plans for this trip were about a y ar in the making and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. 

People are by far the best reminders of God's love for me personally and we've been living it up and making the most of our time. 

Coffee shop chats and beautiful MT scenery and book discussions and all sorts of loveliness. I'm feeling very full and running over. Here are just a few snapshots from Friday & also Saturday, which we spent in Glacier Nat. Park. 

I may or may not be falling slowly in love with this big sky country . . .

Wild Goose Island, although I failed to see any geese! 

Beauty on the small scale . . . 

No bears but we did get to see this mountain goat with her baby . . . 

Nothing like having a picnic on the riverbank where the scenery overshadows your desire for food . . . And yes, the water was COLD! 

Biggest dandelion 'wish-makers' I've ever seen, we had to give them a shot! And getting a day of fun in with this lady before she flies back to Africa for a very long time was pretty much awesomeness! 

Authentic western restaurant where the only 'buffalo' item on their menu was the bison burger-so you try it out just so you can officially say, 'I have eaten buffalo!' 

 

And now a lovely Sunday afternoon of quiet time (although completely unintentional, long story short I slept through time to leave for church😬) and so I finally got to catch up my blog which has kinda been bugging me! 

So that's my week, it was also full of some slightly stressful moments, harried moments, wondering if I would get everything done before I left. Uptight moments, wondering if I would be put on standby for my flight. Some rather bad news about my car, which may be giving up the ghost. But I have been amazed, when I look back over the week. Intentionally deciding that I WOULD find good in each day opened my eyes and made me look deeper . . . Yes, there is good. Find it y'all! 

Till next time . . . 

Mel

Intentional Gratefuleness. . . .(re-post from many moons ago)

This is a post I wrote a month or two ago that never got posted due to bad internet and general procrastination. But a few things have come across my path in the last week or two and I've realized, I really do miss writing. Not making any one-post-a-week promises here but just allowing myself to be honest and open again. I may let you in on a few of the things that rekindled the desire to write. A few awesome blogposts from others, as well as good books. 

But for now this is still very true . . . Intentional gratefulness is still a struggle for me. 

I just came to a startling realization this past week . . . Living intentionally takes work!! Newsflash, I know!! 

I woke up to find myself drowning in the rat race. This past weekend was one of the best weekends I've had in a long time! Why? Because I stayed at home!! And I got to go out for breakfast with my awesome boyfriend, well . . . extended breakfast/lunch but who's keeping track! And catch up. Yes, I know we work in the same office but it's just not the same. Take my word for it! 

And after that I spent the day helping my family work on the new house we're putting up for Mom. Not exactly fun work, sealing the basement walls with pitch, but it was just great to really get out and work for one, and being able to do it

as a family made it all the 'funner'. I realized how spoiled I am with the siblings I have. ( (Although every now & then I wonder!!)  And in the midst of all this I just slowly started to realize that I am a super blessed woman! (Since my nun status is in question these days I guess I'll have to come up with another word for myself!) And after I realized that, I realized how little I thank God for those things! Now, I would have said I'm a pretty thankful person in general. But I was for sure not being intentional about the specifics . . . So I'm gonna try something here. Every day I will take a few pictures of the things that God blesses me with. . . Or if I can't get a picture I'll just describe the moment. I will also be posting them on Instagram if any of you would like to head over there to see the little reminders of Gods love that He sends my way! 

This morning started with a walk to clear my head & kinda sort out all the thoughts that had been crashing around in my head over the weekend. And this is the sight that greeted me when I opened our front door.

Yeah, I was like, 'WOW!' 

But I must say, I was rather appalled at how quickly my brain returned to its default of running full steam ahead. Suddenly I was planning my day at work, and checking over my To-Do list for the week, and trying to figure out if I would need to write out my shopping list or if I would remember it. I literally almost missed this. 

 

She trotted beside the road for a bit before scurrying across & taking a leap for the fence. 

And I couldn't quite get a picture of the bird songs I was hearing but it was pretty amazing too! 

And no, my day didn't go perfectly peachy-keen after my ambitious start. Come on guys, what were you expecting?!? But isn't that the point? To keep living life with grateful intentions even when it's not all fun & games. And I Don't expect it will be any easier to get up the little bit earlier tomorrow morning to get my morning saunter in but that's where the discipline of intentionality comes in. Something that I'm not all that good at! 

Oh, and if anyone else feels inspired to be intentionally grateful in the next couple days I would love to see your pictures and hear about the little love notes that God is sending your way. 

But right now I'm going to be grateful for the fact that I have a lovely soft bed in a cool house that is not covered by water. And I plan to take advantage of that fact by making good use of that blessing! 

Goodnight and sweet dreams, 

Mel